PIA18080: Self-Portrait by Freshly Cleaned Opportunity Mars Rover, False Color


Self-Portrait by Freshly Cleaned Opportunity Mars Rover, False Color

Caption:

This self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows effects of wind events that had cleaned much of the accumulated dust off the rover's solar panels. It combines multiple frames taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) through three different color filters March 22 through March 24, 2014, the 3,611th through 3,613th Martian days, or sols, of Opportunity's work on Mars.

This image is presented in false color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible, and as a vertical projection. The mast on which the Pancam is mounted does not appear in the image, though its shadow does. A version of this self-portrait in approximately true color is online at PIA18079 and http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .

With the cleaner arrays and lengthening winter days, Opportunity's solar arrays are generating more than 620 watt-hours per day in mid-April 2014, compared to less than 375 watt-hours per day in January 2014.

Photojournal Note : Also available is the full resolution TIFF file PIA18080_lg.tif . This file may be too large to view from a browser; it can be downloaded onto your desktop by right-clicking on the previous link and viewed with image viewing software.

Background Info:

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Instrument Host Opportunity (MER-B) Spirit (MER-A)
Host Type Rover
Instrument Panoramic Camera (Pancam)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Dust, Shadow
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2014-04-17
Date in Caption 2014-03-24
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18080
Identifier PIA18080